h a r s h k a r m a

20140331

I recently booked a flight to montreal for a reunion weekend with friends on Air Canada. About 4 weeks ago I received an email that they had adjusted their flight schedule and I would now be on an itinerary that caused me to miss an additional day of work unless I changed my flight.

This was irritating, but not nearly as irritating as when I discovered that to change my flight online I would incur a $200 change fee.

Since receiving the email I have called their reservation line every day at least twice and only received busy signals.

They basically are extorting either a day of work or $200 out of me because they decided to change the schedule. I've submitted a complaint via the online email form and still gotten no response. They remind me of the customer service you'd get from TWA and Northwest just before they went out of business.

20111211

As most of my friends know, I LOVE to walk around in cities. I feel like you don't really get to know a place driving it as much as you do walking around ducking in wherever you feel like. With a likeminded buddy I recently did a 10 mile walk from Santa Monica to west hollywood. The route wasn't ideal, but it was a good first go. I decided to put together a google map to document it.

20111028

The nice thing about social
networking is that the basics aren't rocket science, and you can get a lot done
with a little common sense. When you think about it, a frat on any
college campus is a brand in a highly competitive social marketplace. So it
turns out everything I learned about throwing good parties and BBQs finally has
some real life value.

Here’s my list of the 6 Social
Media Lessons I learned from being a part of a fraternity.

1.) Getting noticed is the first step, but it's not enough. You've
got a house, and you want to get cool people to come to your house and party.
Why? Because you want them to tell their friends it's cool and raise the
profile of the frat. Sound familiar? It's just like trying to make a facebook
page popular or create an online community about a brand by finding and
nurturing relationships with key influencers. But that is just the first
step. You need to attract people, but then you need a reason for them to come
back. This means you need to put on a string of events that know people
will keep returning. Similarly in social, there must be enough content and
engagement for them to return. (Otherwise, there’s always another place to try
out, often right next door.)

2.) You have to please the people who show up every week, and really wow
the people who only show up a couple times a year. At a frat, there
are always the non-members of “friends of the house” who are there all the
time. Every week when you do drinks, they'll be there, and then there are
the people who show up just for the giant theme parties. In your
community you'll have the regulars and contributors who become part of your
community, and then there are the masses who show up every once in a while for
a big event or guest post or that mention on digg. If you alienate your core
community you risk losing your biggest supporters, but if you only cater to the
regulars you’ll never grow.

3.) Popularity comes more from die hard friends of the house than the
members. The people who really make a frat popular are the people who
show up every week, not the people who live there. Of course your team is the
heart of your brand, but it's the core followers, fanboys and early adopters
who will really grow your presence and recognition. They are the ones who
talk to their friends and get the message out with more authenticity than an
actual member of the brand team could ever have. They are also the people who liked you before
you were cool

4.) Picking and supporting the right "friends of the house"
is extremely important. The core friends of the house are
effectively brand ambassadors. If they aren't cool they will drop the
popularity of the house. Can we say Ed Hardy douchebags? If they are cool
they make you look better

5.) Popularity of Brothers in activities outside the house helps drive
popularity of the frat. This one seems obvious but it's so often
forgotten. A frat brother who's a star on the football team or in a cool
band makes the house more popular. Likewise if your brand's team has
people with notoriety outside the brand context. Your founder getting
featured on apartment therapy, your chef competing on chopped, anything
positive that happens to someone associated with your brand has a halo effect.
The reverse is also true so keep an eye on your team.

6.) You don't have to be the biggest and most popular house to have an
awesome time, pick your niche. There's a lot to be said in being the
most popular house with a certain segment on campus - you have the various sports frats, the ethnic
frats, the theme houses, the house with the best BBQs, etc. Picking a
niche for your brand and owning it is one of the best ways to grow and preserve
your popularity and get the most vocal supporters who feel a closer connection
with the brand.

20110607

Every once in a while I get on a music kick caused by a specific album, and Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi's "Rome" is a perfect way to slide into a nice work background score. Add a couple great 60's and 70's atmospheric instrumental movie soundtracks by guys like Ennio Morricone, and Roy Budd and suddenly the most mundane tasks like accepting an email hace this cinematic quality of walking through joshua trees for a sunset gunfight, or racing through the streets with an unsheathed katana.

Of course the first thing the wife said when she heard it was "Interesting, they did this one backwards. I'm curious to see what movie they're going to make for this soundtrack" Personally I think it's got a tarantino ramen western, or jim jarmusch dead man kinda feel to it.

20110531

So I had a realization today whilst talking to a friend online. In the pursuit of lofty corporate goals I have basically lost all of my hobbies other than snark.

The friend in question seems to have nought but hobbies.

Seasonally she's a grunion greeter

She's an avid baker

Occasional horticulturist

She's spun a few scarves, and welded some jewelry

She took up surfing, and dare I say it ...even blogging

Amateur Mycologist and Bee keeper

And then... she has a tendancy to go on a trip and pick up a few more

As I spoke to her, I began to realize that I really had none outside drinking and eating (at which I excel)

I used to ride a bike, go hiking, play squash, play dungeons and dragons, kickball etc.

So every once in a while I make a plan. This year I'm not just gonna get some hobbies, I'm going to upgrade. Harsh 3.0 from Harsh 2.0 which came in college when I started working out again, started wearing better clothes, and realized I was gonna get a good job and go the corporate route.

In order to attain the next "point-oh" I'm looking at an overhaul of lifestyle completely. Superficial and internal. In no particular order

Get a couple cool bags to finally carry all my stuff for travel and walking around

Get a bunch of stuff to simpfy my life, and manage my junk

Manage my to dos

Learn a language

Write regularly. Articles, position papers for work, whatever just something to keep the mind busy and capture my occasianal flame of brilliance

Stay on top of the tech I like

Listen to music. I'm gonna find out new stuff I like and start buyng it on amazon

Hit the Gym. I'm about 5 lbs overweight now and slow as hell. Time to go back to the gym, play squash, take up running

Learn about wine

Improve business skills: Managment, Accounting, business models, etc

I figure I'll get about 50% of it done if I give it the old college try.